Store-fixture.



J. M. WALKER.

STORE FIXTURE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 11,1907.

Patented Oct. 20, 1908.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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J. M. WALKER.

STORE FIXTURE.

APPLICATION YILED' JULY 11. 1907,

Patented 0m; 20. 1908,

SHEETS-MIEET 2 NOV u for J, M WALKER.

STORE FIXTURE. APPLICATION FILED JULY 11, 1907.

Patented 001;. 20, 1908.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 3v J. 1W WALKER.

STORE FIXTURE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 11. 1907.

901,665, 1 latented Oct. 20, 1908.

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6] M vow 07 J. M. WALKER.

' STORE FIXTURE.

APPLIGATION FILED JULY 11, 1907.

901,665. Patented Oct. 20, 1908.

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Ulfll'lED SllAThlil iPrlIiET JAMES MILLER WALKER, OF AUGUSTA, GEORGIA.

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Specification ol Letters Patent.

Patented Get. 20, 1908'.

Application filed July H, 196?. llcrlei No. 383,312.

To all whom ct mwyconcern:

Be it known that I, JAMES MILLER WALKER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Augusta, inthe county of Richmond and State of Georgia, haveinvented certain new and useful 1m rovcment-s in Store-Fixtures, ofwhich the idllowing is a specification.

This invention relates more especially to -improved means for supportingand displaying code and also to the combination with suc supportingmeans of an inclosing cabinet designed to protect the goods from dustand other injury.

Said invention further relates to the combination between the supportingmeans and the cabinet door or doors whereby the said door or doors areautomatically drawn back into the cabinet by the action of the goodssupporting means traveling forward or to wards the front of the cabinet,and shifted in the reverse direction when the goods support is pushedback in the cabinet.

M invention consists further in the novel com ination and arrangement ofparts hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in theaccompanying claims.

In order to more fully describe my said invention, reference will be hadto the accom panying drawings which form. a part of this specilicaLion,and wherein,

Figure 1, re resents. a vertical. section through a clot res cabinetembodying one form of my said invention, the garniei'it supportingdevice being shown in side elevation; Fig 2, a section on line 2--2,Fig. 1, looking down Fig. 3, an enlarged detail View showing the toptrolley, shown in Fig. 1, in side elevation, its guide rails in section;and also showing in section the bearings for supporting the uppergarment rack. Fig. 4, a detail side elevation of the said top trolley,showing also in side elevation the upper portion of the rod forsupporting the garment rack; Fig. 5, a detail end elevation of the lowertrolley shown in Fig. 1 showing its track in section; Fig. 6, a detailside elevation of the trolley shown in Fig. 5; Fig. 7, c ting mentardetail View partly in section and partly in top plan of the doorshifting rack mechanism and one side of the cabinet shown in Fi 1,showing the door pushed back into t is cabinet. Fig. 8,- a frag mentarydetail side elevatioir of the lower portion of one of the cabinet doorswith its supporting frame and shifting rack attached thereto showing thefloor of the cabinet in section, the said parts being shown in the samerelative osition as in Fig. 7; Fig. 9, a fragmentary etail perspective,view of one of the radial arms of the garment rack; Fig. 10, an enlargedfragmentary section taken on line 7'. Fig. 2; Fig. ll, 11. detailvertical central section of a modified form of bearing for supportingthe garment rack; Figs. l2, l3, and let represent partly in section andpartly in elevation three alternative ar rangements for supporting thegarment supporting rack; rod; Fig. 15, a fragmentary side elevation theupper trolley and guide rail shown in Fig. 12, showing a portion of thecabinet to in section; Fig. 16; a fragmentary top 0 an view of the uppertrolley and guide rail shown in Fig. 13; Fig. 17 a fragmentary sideelevation of the upper trolley and guide rail. shown-in Fig. 14, showing portion of the cabinet top in section; Fig. 18, represents partly invertical section and in elevation a modified form of cabinet and displaystand embodying my invention; Fig. 1%, a detail side elevation of one ofthe radial arms of the rack shown in Fig. 18, showing the supportingrings of said rack in section; Fig. 20, a similar view of the some partturned 180 on its longitudinal to support hats as indicated in dottedlines; Fig. 21, a top plan viewof one of the circular r .cks shown inFig. 18; F lg. 22, is a top, plan view on a smaller scale ofa modifiedform of one of such racks, and Fig. 23, a fragmentary section on anenlarged scale taken along line 2-23, Fig. 22, looking in the directionof the arrow in said figure.

Referring nrst to the form of my invention shown in Figs. 1 to 10inclusive, of the accon'ipanying drawings, 1 represents a cabinet ofdesired construction in. the .1 per portion of which is rigidlysupported by means of bolts 2 or in. any otherv suitable manner, a pairof guide rails 3 which are shown in the form. of channel beams, the saidguide rails extending from a suitable point near the front of thecabinet to a suitable point preferably in the rear of the center thereofand lying preferably midway between the sides f the cabinet as shownmost clearly r1 dly in the track 4.

- the web 32 (see Fig. 9) is cut away as at 33 the rod 6, or maybeintegral therewith.

while. the grooves 35 form race-ways for balls On this track is ada tedto run a trolley 5 which is connected y means of a vertical shaft or rod6 to a trolley 7 ,adapted to run on uide rails 3.

he top trolley 7 consists among other parts of a frame 8 having upwardlyextend- 1ng pairs of wings 9 and 10 between which are journaledrespectively the rollers 11 and 12 See Figs. 3 and 4.) Extending upwardthrough the center of the trolley frame is an exteriorly screw-threadedspindle 13, with respect to which the trolley frame 8 is held osition bylock nuts 14and 15 and ,16. he upper end of the spindle 13: is re needin diameter as at 17 to form a journal for a roller 18 mounted forrotation on said journal as a vertical axis. The lower end of thespindle is screwed into the upper end of In the operative position, theperiphery of the roller 18 engages or runs between the inner faces ofguide rails 3, while the rollers 11 and 12 extend across the spacebetween said rails and run directly beneath the lower faces of saidrails. q

The lower trolley 5, consists among other parts (see Figs. 5 and 6) of aframe, 19, havmg pairs of wings, 20 and 21, between which are journaledrespectively flat peripherally grooved rollers 22 and 23 adapted to runon On the center of the top of the frame 19 is formed a preferablyintegral upwardly extending lug 24, having a vertical opening-adapted toreceive the reduced portlon 25, of the lower end of the rod 6, the saidrod and lug being held against relative movement by in 26.

The r0 6 forms a support for one or more supporting racks 27 consistingeach, in the case shown, of a preferably light metal ring 28, to theinner periphery of which is rigidly secured a plurality of preferablylight metal arms 29 converging towards the center of said ring and madefast by bolts 30 or other- Wise at their inner ends to a plate 31. Inthe specific form shown, the arms 29 are T- shaped in cross section andat one end of each to receive the plate 31. This makes a very strong andrigid connection. Any other suitable arm and connection, however, may beused without departing from the spirit of my invention.

The plate 31 of each rack has an opening 34 through its center, andannular grooves 35 formed in opposite faces of said lates. Through theopening 34 passes the ro 6, allowing the plate 3] to rotate relativethereto,

36, which also run in race ways 37 and 38 in plates 39 and 40, mountedloosely on the rod 6 and held rigidly in position by means of set screws41 and 42. 'l. he plate 3] balls 36 and plates 39 and 40 constitute aball bearing support for the'rack which not only permits 1 that inpractice the rack to beeasily rotated, but prevents the same from sidetilting by an unequally distributed load thereon. V

It willbe readilyseen that by'loos'ening the set screws 41 and 42 therack may be raised or lowered to any suitable position on the rod 6.

A modified form of the ballbearing su port above described is shown inFig. 11. iii this latter form the two plates 39 and 40 are replaced bytwo plates 43 and 44, the former being interiorly screw-threaded toreceive a sleeve extension 45 on the plate 44, which is screwed into theplate 43, the plate .43 being held in position by lock nut 46. By meansof this arrangement the bearing may be slid along on the rod 6 withoutdisturbing the relative' positions of the plates to each other, andtherefore without having to readjust th bearing after each suchmovement.

Coats or other garments may be suspended from the racks as indicated inFig. 1, except the coats will be distributed arouird the circular racks,though the racks are supported in such manner as not to tilt to one sidewhen the distribution of the load becomes unequal as by removing moregarments from one side of the rack than from the other.

Owing to the rotatable feature of'the racks the garments su ported maybe readily inspected; while tlie mounting of these racks on the rod 6which is in turn movable back and forth in the cabinet on the trolleysupports described, permits the racks to be pulled out to the front ofthe ease to better dis lay the goods. Obviously as many rac s may beplaced on one rod 6 as desired in any special case. In some cases, forexample, in supporting rain coats, overcoats or other long garments,used on a rod. It that I do not confine my invention to the specific wayof supporting the rod 6, which I have above described. Several otherways of doing this, any of which I may employ, are shown in Figs. 12 to17 inclusive.

In the form shown in Figs. 12 to 15, the upper and lower trolleys arealike and con. sist each of a pair of flanged rollers 47 and 48 mountedin a bracket 49, made fast in any suitable way to the end of the rod 6.The tracks for these trolleys consist respectively of I -beams 50 and51, top of the cabinet and the other fast to cabinet floor.

In the arrangement shown in Figs. 13 and 16, the upper end of the rod 6carries merely the a horizontal roller 52 ournaled thereon, and

adapted to travel between two guide rails 53 and 54 supported in anysuitable manner in the upper portion of the cabinet. The lower end ofthe rod 6 is made fast to a trolley embodying features similar to theone described in U. S. Patent No. 830,813, granted to me one madefasttothe a ea I and the pairs of rol rs spaced apart, the upper rollersengaging the top of an I-beain 58 and the lower rollers beneath thebottom of 1 the I-beam, the said I-beam being made in any suitablemanner near the bottom of the cabinet.

- In Figs. 14 and 17, I have shown the trolley at the upper end of therod 6 as consisting of a guide plate 59 made last to the end ol' saidrod, said plate being provided with tour rollers 60 extendinghorizontally iroin each side of said plate and rotatable respectively onspindles 61 made last to said plate. The plate 59 travels between twoguide rails 62 and 63 which pass respectively between pairs of rollers60 on the said guide plate, thereby limiting the rocking of the rod dlongitudinally of said guide rails. ()n the bottom of the rod fi, inthis case, is jourualed a roller 64 which travels between the innerfaces of two guide rails 65 made last to the bottom or" the cabinet.

My present invention contemplates further the combining with asupporting rack such as (l6SC1"1l)8(.l, or other traveling rack, of

mechanism for automatically operating thereby thedoor or doors of thecabinet to cause them to travel back into the cabinet or otherwise getthem out of the way when the supporting rack is pulled out, and to ame?the doors to travel in the opposite direc on when the said rack ispushed towards the oi the cabinet. I accomplish this result v.1 one wayby the arrangement shown in the accompanying; drawings, wherein iprovide the cabinet with a pair of doors cc and 67 which are hingedrespectively as at 68 and (if) to two supportinp frames 70 and 71.

Phesc frames are provided top and bottom with small grooved rollers 72which engage and run on tracks 73 at the top of the cabinet d tracks 74at the bottom of the 0. net. These tracks are located a s'uilicicnt disaway from the sides of the cabinet to term a space 75 to permit thedoors to travel in when opcne wide and pushed back shown in Fig. 7.

For the pur ose of counterbalancing the weight of the r oors, I attachto each oi the frames 70 and 71 a weight 77 on the opposite side of theframes from the doors. These Weights may consist each as in the caseshown of a Hat iron plate mounted between brackets 78 and 79. Bycounterbalancing the weight of the door in this manner all of the weightis brought upon the lower rollers 72, of the door supporting frames andthis greatly reduces any tendency of the rollers to bind and preventcasyaction in ushing the ice the doors 66 and 67 back into thecabinot wl'ienthe garment is drawn tothe front of the cabinet, and imparting travel tothem in the opposite direction when the garment racl; is pushed into thecabinet, I make fast 70 to the respective door supporting frames 70 and71, toothed. racks 80 and Si which en gage respectively, with pinions 82and 83 mounted for rotation on brackets 84 and 85 made last to thecabinet iioor. Also 1nesh-- 75 ing with said ppinions 82 and 88 are'twotoothed racks 8d and 87 respectively, which are rigidly supported. bymeans of bracket arms 88 and 89, extending outwards from a" plate 76resting on the lower trolley and so made last thereto by means of bolts76 pass ing through lugs 76* formed on the trolley frame 26 "for thatpurpose. it will therefore be readily seen from Fig. 2, that when thedoors 65 and 67 are opened outward so as to '85 be in line with thespaces 75 at the sides of the cabinet and the garment supporting, racksare pulled out, this forward motion" will transmit through the rack andpinion mechanism described, motion to saiddoors to 90 pull themback-into the spaces 75, thus getting them out oi the way. in a similarmanneiywhen the rod 6 and garment supporting TflClQS. are pushed. backinto the cabinet, the door-awill travel outward automatically. as

it will of course be understood that the rack and pinion arrangementshown is biit one of he many ways in which the desired motion may betransmitted from the garn t to the doors, and ,i do not wish to beundertood as confining my invention to iic mechanism for accomplishingthis result. in Figs. 18 to 23 inclusive l have shown a modified form ofmy invention wherein 90 represents a show orcabinct oil any desired.construct-ion; 9i. and sockets made fast to the top and bottomrespectively of said. cabinet, and 93a rod mtjiunted atits ends in saidsockets and held from rotation by the set screws 94% and tin this red Imount one or more supporting ifach's cc, con sisting each of a})llll.itilli of arms 97 radiat ing from a plate 98 to which they'aremade fast in any suitable way. The plate 98 may '115 be of the sameconstruction asplale 3i 3) 1d mounted between ball bearings car- "E'ried by plates 99 and 100 corresponding to after more fully appear.Adapted to rest in these notches, depending upon which edge of x thearms is turned up, are a series of rings 110, 111, 112, and 113preferably of some light metal. When the rings 110-1 13 rest in is thenotches 101-104, as shown in Figs. 19 and 21, the arrangement isespecially adapt- .ed,:for supporting articles wit flat surfaces, suchfor example as hat boxes, flat brimmed hats and the like. When, however,the arms are reversed as shown in Fig.-20, the-notches 106 and 107,owing to the raised portion 109 of the arm, willbe elevated above theline of the notches 105 and 108, so that the rings 110-113 when laid inthe notches 105-108 will occupy the relative positions shown. Thisarrangement of the rings is es ecially adaptedfor supporting derby hatsw ich are placed on the rings as shown. (See Fig. 20.) n this case thehats are supported normally 20 entirely by the center rings 111 and 112,but the rings 110 and 113 act to catch the hats if accidentally knocked'forward or backwards and thereby prevent the same from falling off therack. It will therefore be seen that the arms 97 are reversible for usewith the same set of rings 110-113 whether used with the fiat edgeuppermost as in Figs. 19 and 21 or with the raised portion 109 uppermostas shown in Fig. 20.

A further modification of this form of my invention consists inreplacing the rings 1 113 by glass or other sup orting plates 114 and115 which may be in the form of two half circular disks or other desiredshape. When 35 the rings 110-1 13 are replaced by the glass or otherplates the arms 97 having notches therein as described may be replacedby arms 116 having each plane edges and a small upward extension or lug117 at its outer end to hold the plates 114 and 115 in lace. The rack 96and modifications descri ed are not confined to use alone with the formof rod support and cabinet shown in Fig. 18, for these racks may beinterchangeable with the 5 racks 27. Having thus described I claim is I1; In a device of the character described, the combination with a rod,of a trolle secured to each;end of said rod, guide rai s for therespective trolleys, means to sup ort said guide rails, bearing platesmouhted on said rod, a plate interposed between said bearing plates andvloosely-encircling said rod, a supporting frame secured to and supportedby the said central plate, and rolling bearings between the said centralplate and the said plates between which it is interposed.

2. The combination with a cabinet, of a pair of guide rails mountedtherein in the up "per portion thereof, said guide rails being separatedb a space extending longitudinally thereo a trolley comprising a frame,a roller mounted therein to run in the said 65 space between said guiderails, and rollers on my invention, what goods supporting rackcomprising a plurality opposite sides of said rollers adapted to runbeneath said uide rails; a track in the lower portion of saic cabinetbeneath the said space separating said guide rails; a trolley adapted torun on said track, said trolley comprising a frame and two perl herallygrooved rollers journaled therein and adapted to run on said track; arod secured to and connecting said trolleys and vertically disposed insaid cabinet; a supporting rack comprising a frame encircling said rod,and means to mount said frame for rotation on said rod as an axis.

'3. The combination with a cabinet provided with a movable door, of agoods supporting rack mounted to travel in said cabinet, and operativeconnection between the said door and said rack whereby the said gravelof said rack automatically moves said oor.

4. The combination with a cabinet havin 85 hinged doors adapted to swingoutward and then disappear into said cabinet, of a goodssup orting rackmounted to travel'back and fort 1 in said cabinet, an operativeconnection between saidtraveling rack and said door to cause said doorto travel back into the cabinet When the said rack travels forward, andforward when said racktravels backward.

5. 'In a device of the character described, a

ofradiatmg arms each having an elevated ring supporting portion and arin supporting portion below the level of sai elevated portion, rings ofdifferent diameters sup orted by said elevated portion in a givenorizontal plane, a ring of smaller diameter than said rings and a ringof larger diameter than the first mentioned rings supported on the saidring supporting portion of said arms. below the level of and surroundingthe axis of the first mentioned rings, substantially as described.

6. A display rack, comprising a rotatable support; a plurality of armsradiating from sa1 support and mounted thereon; a pair of supportingrings of different diameters mounted on said arms in substantially thesame horizontal plane; a second pair of supporting rings, both being ofsmaller diameter than the larger of the first mentioned pair of rings,but of larger diameter than the smaller of the first mentioned pair ofrings, said arms being provided with. an extension for supporting thesecond mentioned pair of rings 1n a horizontal plane above the firstpair of 120 rings.

7. A display rack, comprising a rotatable support; a plurality of armsradiating from sa1 support and mounted thereon; a pair of supportingrings of diil'erent diameters mounted on said arms in substantially thesame horizontal plane; a second pair of supporting rings, both being ofsmaller diameter than the larger of the first mentioned pair of rings,but of a larger diameter than the 130 smaller of'the first mentionedpair of rings, some both inside of said support and outside .aid al'msbeix; adjustable tO SuP: ort all of thereof to limim the movement of thehats staid rings iii t e same plane 01' tElG second crosswise of saidsupport mentioned air of rings to a horizontal plane In testimonywhereof I affix. my signature 5 above the 58st mentioned pair of rings.

A 3 in presence of two witnesses.

8. display rack for hats comprisinq an 1 v q M w r 1 annular supportupon which alone the Tmts i JAM'MS MILLER me stdapted. to rest normally,and means exteniiln around the axis of said support and 10 looetei in ahorizontal plane beneath the Witnesses:

JoHN A. A'IURYHY,

CHARLES LOWELL HOWARD.

